This is a picture of my family taken several years before I was born. It shows my Mom and Dad, his parents and brothers and sisters and a grandchild. This could really be anyone’s family back in the 1940’s. There are three generations of unique but otherwise “everyday” sort of folks. They had their squabbles along with lots and lots of laughter. They shed some tears and probably even had a wrestling match or two. Just an everyday, ordinary family.
Today, all but one of the folks in the picture are gone. But I am still part of a family. If I were to take a snapshot today it would still have a mom and a dad, brothers and sisters, and a grandchild. There may even have been a great nephew or niece in the picture. It would be a unique, but otherwise “everyday” sorts of folks. They would have had their share of squabbles and laughter, tears and wrestling matches. They would have been just another family. But they would also have something even more important. They would have a fundamental belief in a statement our parents and grandparent’s taught us. Family is family!
You see, no matter what we might say or think about our family, it does not change the fact that we all draw from a common root stock We share a history, memories, a name,
a common identity that gives us roots in our world. We share some core beliefs and feelings of oneness that give us roots in our soul. We may have our differences but we will stand together, especially when times become hard.
The family in the picture came through the depression together. They worked other people’s land as sharecroppers. They sent some folks off to fight two world wars. They watched as marriages, births, and deaths constantly changed the family landscape. What got them through all of that? Family is family.
When my generation came along and we had our first college graduates, the family began to change again. Children moved farther away. Culture changes been to drive deep wedges in the shared beliefs. My own group of cousins grew apart and we do not even know each other’s names. But one thing remains. When I discovered a child of one of my cousins on Facebook, I rejoiced because I felt the presence of the one thing that remains, family is family! We felt a kinship as we made connections among the roots of the generations that came before us. We acknowledged that though we live in different states and have not seen each other in half a century, we are still family. And somehow that makes my days a little less frightening and my changing
world a little more comfortable.
So in the end all I can say is that my greatest gift from life is the gift of family. Why? Because family IS family!
Bob